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Humans are great short term thinkers, and pretty poor long-term thinkers. We want things and we want them now. This makes things like paying down old debts, saving for the future, and cutting carbs oh-so-tough. Not paying debt and eating pasta is just...better than the alternative. At least, until a few years later when we’re cursing our younger selves and trying to repair the damage that was done.

A big part of this reason is that in essence, we’re actually of two “brains” here - an emotional (short term) brain, and a logical (long-term) brain. As one author of a study on economic behavior said, “Our emotional brain wants to max out the credit card, order dessert and smoke a cigarette. Our logical brain knows we should save for retirement, go for a jog and quit smoking.” Even the most logical among us has felt this tug, and it’s telling to know that we’re really hardwired to respond to short-term stimuli. Flashing lights, great sales, oncoming tigers.

If you want to know how to get started using YNAB, you’re in the right place! I’ve been using YNAB for over a decade and teaching other people how to use it for several years. YNAB is my jam. I love walking people through it, step by step, so that they not only learn how and why to use this magical, life changing money management tool, but also how to make it fit their actual life.

You’ve probably heard that most New Year’s resolutions fail. I’m betting you don’t need a scientist to tell you that, if you’ve ever set one yourself. So how do you improve the odds? Here are some research backed tips to making this year one in which you move ever closer to your ideal self.

Are you sick of overspending, no matter what system you seem to try? What if I told you that I had a super simple system that would guarantee you couldn't overspend, and you could get up and running within an hour? Enter envelope budgeting.

A budget *should* be pretty simple, right? You figure out how much money you make, and how much money you have going out, and whatever’s left is for saving or spending money. But let me guess...you’ve tried that, and it didn’t really work. So you find yourself at your trusty google asking the world what you’re missing.